The Trinity is the explanation that accounts for all the New Testament evidence about God at once, while each simpler alternative works only by leaving some of the evidence out.

Lay all the data on the table at once: there is one God, a Jesus who does what only God does, a Spirit who acts like a person, and three who relate to one another. Two simpler explanations get offered as a way to reduce the strain. Each is appealing because it is tidy. The problem is that each stays tidy only by quietly setting aside part of the evidence. Simplicity earned by accounting for everything is a virtue. Simplicity bought by ignoring evidence is just a shorter story. The Trinity is more complicated because the data is complicated, and it is the account that leaves nothing on the floor. Notice too that this puts the burden on every view, not only on the Trinity. Anyone who rejects it still has to explain the same full set of facts. The two competing explanations are set out below as the evidence, each stated in its strongest form, with the response underneath.